Winter Storm Jonas Socks

My first sock pattern is finally complete! You can get it on Ravelry, on Craftsy and on Etsy. These ones took me a long time to complete. Being my first pattern I had to do a lot of extra work on them to get a usable pattern that was well worded. My test knitters were fantastic in giving feedback on how it knit up for others, which did lead to some changes. But, the changes were all for the better. I’m quite happy with how the pattern has turned out.

These socks were inspired by the snow storm that blew through early in 2016. While the snow was coming down, and in between trips to clear the driveway and sidewalk, I had time to sit and contemplate a design. This was the result of this. That is why I chose this name. It was the name for the storm that was thrown around a lot, and one that people are familiar with, even though naming a blizzard is a bit silly. It took months for me to be able to sit down and actually start to work on the pattern, and then months more to get it to a place where I could send it for test knits. For my first pattern, this taught me a lot. Hopefully the next ones will go much smoother. In fact, sock pattern number two is already in the works. You can get a sneak peak of it here.

The yarn I used for the Winter Storm Jonas socks was Manos del Uraguay, Alegria. It’s a super soft yarn that worked great for showing the stitch definition. I did stray from convention just a smidge with this pattern, as well. I decided to start my rows with a purl stitch. It’s not a favorite for most people, but it gave me a line of definition up the side of the sock, and also added detail around the swirl pattern. I felt that the swirl needed something to frame it. Otherwise, it was just looking like a strange yarn over thing, and nothing special.